Flexio, a B2B payments platform serving companies in Latin America, has raised $3 million in seed funding, the company said in a news release Friday (Feb. 4).
The firm notes that while B2B payments in its home country of Mexico are required to be digitally documented, many small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) struggle with this system as they can receive documents in often unorganized ways or may not have the staff or technology to manage data entry and approvals.
“We experienced these challenges first-hand while building businesses in previous roles,” said Nathan Schorr, co-founder and CEO of Flexio. “The traditional processes are inefficient and arduous, preventing timely payments and using up valuable employee resources while also negatively impacting cash flow management.”
His company offers accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) solutions for SMBs, handling pay-ins, payouts, communication and integrations, with enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) and accounting software.
Flexio says its customers can reduce the time they spend on AR/AP by as much as 70%. This is achieved through, among other things, automation of all invoice and AR processes, the use of digital payouts instead of manual logins and cash flow analytics that update businesses about their financial health in real time.
“Nine billion invoices were processed in Mexico alone in 2020,” said Amy Cheetham, partner at Costanoa Ventures, which led the funding round. “By focusing on SMBs doing business in Mexico, Flexio is providing a much-needed service for an underserved market.”
Joining Costanoa in funding the seed round were Soma Capital, Latitud Fund, Omri Mor, Daniel Kahn, Diego Oppenheimer, “as well as several notable LatAm founders and Y Combinator alumni,” Flexio said.
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The funding comes at a time Latin American businesses are looking for ways to make more seamless and secure cross-border B2B transactions, according to Gabriel Carvajlino, VP, network development LATAM at Thunes, who wrote a recent op-ed for PYMNTS.
“Forecasts suggest that global cross-border transactions will grow to $156 trillion in 2022, with B2B payments accounting for $150 trillion,” he said. “Latin America’s share of these transactions is expected to increase significantly due to surging global trade in the region.”